Table 5.
Reported outcomes of patient navigation programs
| Outcomes | Citations |
|---|---|
| Patient and caregiver outcomes | |
| Positive Outcomes | |
| Improvements in general health and wellness | |
| • Reduced unmet needs | [38, 44] |
| • Improved quality of life | [23, 44] |
| • Improved mental health | [33] |
| • Improved activities of daily living | [33] |
| • Reduced co-morbidities | [23] |
| • Improved understanding of patients’ health conditions and their management | [35, 43] |
| • Decreased worries, concerns and stress | [23, 44] |
| • Reduced caregiver strain or depressive symptoms | [41, 42] |
| • Improved biomarkers for chronic disease (e.g., HbA1c; fewer HIV clients with a detectable viral load | [29, 44] |
| Improved self-efficacy, self-management or empowerment | [23, 30, 38, 46, 51]. |
| Increased patient satisfaction regarding services for themselves or their children | [23, 30, 38, 46, 51]. |
| Increased access to care: | |
| • Care overall (i.e., increase in number of patients seen) | [22] |
| • A primary care medical home | [23, 51] |
| • Timely primary care | [38]; |
| • Medications | [43] |
| • More access to culturally appropriate care | [23, 37, 49] |
| • Specialty or sub-specialty care (for children; for AIDS/HIV patients) | [44, 51] |
| Better follow up and uptake of screening: | |
| • Reduced missed medical appointments | [43] |
| • For legal counsel | [47] |
| • Increased patient encounters and communication with primary care | [8, 23, 33, 44, 46] |
| • More mammography or cancer screening according to guidelines | [23, 31] |
| Financial, employment, and health claims addressed | |
| • Increased employment and reduced financial stresses | [33] |
| • Reduced numbers of mental health patients who applied for disability benefits, with significantly higher behavioural health claims | [33] |
| • Proportion of patients suffering from mental illness who become insured | [23] |
| • Patients connected to legal services reported positive impacts on finances and compliance with medical appointments and treatment | [47] |
| • More affordable services for working poor | [35] |
| Neutral or negative outcomes | |
| Discomfort with male navigators for female breast cancer care, lack of care continuity and poor navigator follow up | [36] |
| No differences in employment, hours worked or earnings | [38] |
| Provider outcomes | |
| Satisfaction with navigation programs | [30, 41, 46] |
| Increased communication among primary care providers and community services or providers | [8, 46, 54, 55] |
| Increased knowledge and skills | [47, 48] |
| Increased trust between | |
| • Navigators and physicians | [41] |
| • Patients and their attorneys | [47] |
| Improved care coordination | [47, 55] |
| Navigators empowered in their community advocacy role and were promoted in their positions | [30, 37] |
| Health system outcomes | |
| Reduction in emergency room and/or hospital use | [28, 29, 43, 45] |
| Prevention of premature institutionalization | [52] |